Nobody told me nuthin'

When a person decides to run for office, there are certain things they must do. And certain things they must know.

A valuable source of information is the South Carolina Elections Commission.

Behind the "Candidates" tab on the homepage is a page titled "Campaign Finance & Ethics".

On that page, clear as a bright sun, it reads

"Candidates are required by law to file various campaign finance reports by specific deadlines.

"All candidates must file a Statement of Economic Interest (SEI) form with the State Ethics Commission.  This must be done electronically on the State Ethics Commission website.  Candidates may also be required to make Campaign Disclosure reports.  Visit the State Ethics Commission website for more information."

So this is my question. If a person with an eighth-grade education or higher read that, wouldn't he or she think that maybe, just maybe, it might be a good idea to find out what those reports were and when those deadlines were?

How could a person possibly later say, "Nobody told me I needed to do something." It was the candidate's personal responsibility to find out. You can't put the blame off on someone else.

If a candidate can't or won't take that personal responsibility, can that candidate be trusted to fulfill important fiduciary duties as a member of a board of trustees, responsible for multi-millions of dollars of assets, thousands of students and hundreds of employees?